1. Field of the Invention
Fluid evaporating devices.
2. Background Art
Fluid evaporating devices, which employ a wick to conduct a fragrance material from an isolated reservoir containing the liquid to the ambient air, are well known in the art. The fragrance material may be allowed to evaporate from the exposed end of the wick per se, or the wick may be used to conduct the liquid to a water-absorbent material, whereby the fragrance is allowed to evaporate into the ambient air from the exposed surface of the absorbent material. In either case, the wick is immersed directly into the fragrance material contained in the reservoir. Fluid evaporating devices of this type have been found to suffer from the disadvantage that the more volatile components of the fragrance material are removed first, leaving the less volatile components behind. This change in composition with time eventually results in a distortion in the odor and weakening in the intensity of the fragrance, since the less volatile component evaporates more slowly. The odor of the fragrance material becomes very weak after only a short period of time, usually after a week or two of use.
Various devices have been developed in order to overcome these limitations, i.e., distortion and weakening of the odor of the fragrance material. Aerosol-type systems have been developed which will maintain fragrance integrity over their useful life, but have the disadvantage they are useful only while they are being sprayed and unless constantly sprayed, they lose their effectiveness in a few minutes. Mechanical devices have been developed to introduce a premeasured amount of the fragrance material into the ambient air, at regularly timed intervals. These devices are usually electrically or battery operated and complex in design. Devices have been developed which will continuously transfer the fragrance material from a reservoir to a second chamber, which contains the wick-type delivery system. These devices are designed such that they operate continuously once started and cannot be interrupted.
The fluid evaporating device and method of the present invention overcome the limitations of the conventional wick systems of the prior art, i.e., distortion and weakening of the fragrance over the life span of the device, while avoiding the complexity and other drawbacks of the above prior art devices. The device is simple in design, and employs a delivery system which allows the user to interrupt the flow of the liquid from the reservoir and to hermetically seal the fragrance material from the ambient air, whenever it is desired to do so, without taking the device apart.